New Blog is coming along.....

Hey, everyone! How is the start of your Spring? I hope it's great! I wanted to stop in and give you the link to my new blog at Roark Design Studio. I hope you can make it over and take a look. I still haven't posted much, but am planning on it, lol!

Bittersweet News..........

.......but the beginning of a new chapter in my life. After alot of deliberation and concern, late nights laden with coffee and discussions with my inner-self, I have made the hard decision to close Signature Vintage.

The decision has been spurred by my desire to finish my degree in digital design (I only have less than halfway to go) and for the fact that the financial overhead involved with the shop just isn't justifying the means, which I'm sure most of you can relate to.

So, what I've decided to do is open another site where I will continue to offer design services such as web and blog design and photography (for local folks). This will give me a chance to build my portfolio in design and hopefully, fuel my depleting income.

I was also recently hired as a cover artist for several book publishers, so with all of that in mind, I just wouldn't have time to keep up the shop. My design business is called Roark Design Studio and I am in the process of building the new site and blog. When I have those done, I promise I will come back and leave a link because I sincerely hope you'll visit me in my "new" place. I will be leaving this blog open, though I think I will only post when I find some fab-tacular (my new word, lol) finds I want to share.

So, if you get a comment on your blog from Roark Design Studio, it's me.....I'm not a stranger, lol!

I'm saddened, but hopeful at the same time. I loved running the shop, but sometimes in life you just have to follow where life leads, and right now, it's leading me in a new direction, one that seems bright and airy.

{raising glass} "To New beginnings....."

{all in unison} "Cheers!"

Angie's New Design!

I have finished Angie's blog design! I hope everyone will hop on over to check it out and leave her comments, let her know what you think! I had alot of fun designing it.

In other news, I will be posting in a bit about a big decision I've made, so stay tuned!

Blog Design Give-Away Winner is......

Angie from Quilly Silly's Vintage Boutique! Angie has a beautiful boutique as well as an Etsy shop, so swing on by and wish her a big congrats!

Wanted to share.....

....a new banner that I made for the boutique and also some news and happenings with me. I am now going to be designing websets and templates for several different do-it-yourself website services, one of which I have personal past experience with and recommend to anyone looking for a website provider. All of these systems are very easy to use and operate much like the Pappashop systems. They have built in shopping carts which eliminate the need to have a Mal's or other seperate shopping cart.

The system I have the most experience in is DIY Estores. Their system is where I hosted my former pattern business and can honestly say it is the easiest and most carefree system yet. I do like Pappashop and I don't mean to knock it, but since I opened with Pappashop, I realized just how great the DIY system is. The cart, as I mentioned, has been a headache since I signed up with Pappashop....having to log in to a different system to set everything up, and not to mention setting up the shipping (I've had a hek of a time with that).

The Mal's cart also doesn't eliminate products that have been bought from my site....so this is what happened......I had a woman purchase an item, and since it didn't register as sold, an hour later another customer bought the same item. It was awfully embarassing having to write that guest back and try to explain that someone had already bought it.

So, anyhoo....I'm going to give everyone a list of the companies that I will be designing for....and if any of you don't currently have a site and are looking to get one, these are really good options to choose from.

DIY Estores

Designer 218

Create A Shoppe Plus

Also, if you're looking for a new, fresh venue for marketing and networking, visit Prim Mart, they are a division of DIY Estores and have a host of business resources (among them printing services and so on) and also a forum in which you can speak to hundreds of other business owners. Hope you enjoy surfing around and checking them out!

Quote-worthy

I love comments, and in fact relish them. They are like little treasures to me and alot of the time they spark a new post that I just have to write. Cielo from The House in The Roses (who has an amazingly beautiful blog, she's got creamware up right now) left a comment on my Blog Design Give-away post that did just that. She commented that her and Helen Hayes were kindred spirits and I wanted to share more quotes by the famous actress in honor of that "connection". Enjoy....and thank you, Cielo......

“We relish news of our heroes, forgetting that we are extraordinary to somebody too.”

“I cry out for order and find it only in art.”

“If you rest, you rust.”

“My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others. That is nice but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success.”

“Age is not important unless you're a cheese.”

“Every human being on this earth is born with a tragedy, and it isn't original sin. He's born with the tragedy that he has to grow up...a lot of people don't have the courage to do it.”


I'm beginning to think Cielo isn't the only one who is kindred spirits with this famous actress. Such wisdom........

Blog Design Give-Away!

I hope everyone had a delightful Easter! In honor of Spring, I want to have a three column blog design giveaway! Installation will be provided! All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me what your favorite thing to do in the Spring is. Is it being in the garden? Painting in the studio with the windows open? Hanging out on the porch with a good book? I want to know! I will randomly pick the winner on March 30 and announce then!

The only restrictions are that you have a blogger account, I am not currently designing templates for any other blogging system. Good luck everyone!